If you grew up on McDonald’s apple pies and fluffy breakfast pancakes doused in syrup, the thought of jianbing and egg tarts on Chinese menus might leave you a bit confused. The golden arches are no strangers to experimenting with localized flavor palettes — in the past, McDonald’s has swapped out their wheat buns for rice, apple pie filling for taro, and has served everything from bubble tea to youtiao in their mainland China outlets.
But China’s McDonald’s restaurants now have a new idea: Coca-Cola chicken wings have arrived.
It’s not unheard of; some readers may be familiar with “Dr. Pepper Wings” or “Root Beer Wings”. But believe it or not, Coca-Cola wings do actually have ties to Chinese cuisine.
The McDonald’s promotion might actually be a great fit for the Chinese market. They’re cooked with soy sauce and other local ingredients, in addition to the Coke — it’s kind of the perfect Chinese-American fusion dish. We’re surprised McDonald’s didn’t think of this before.
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Online, diners are divided, and the dish seems to be pretty hit or miss. Some find the taste underwhelming, and for an item that costs more than the Sichuan Spicy Chicken, a lot feel it’s just not worth it. Others can’t get enough — one customer admitted to buying six servings at once, even if they found the flavor “hard to place”.
McDonald’s Coca-Cola wings are a limited time item. But the sweet taste of intercultural culinary mingling lives forever.
